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UPON HER ARRIVAL back to New York, Kaelyn screamed into a pillow. She screamed until her throat got scratchy and tears streamed down her face. After a while, Caden came home from work and came busting into her room.
"Hey, hey, hey, Kae, what's going on? One of the neighbors told me you'd been screaming for hours they were about to call the cops," he wrapped his arms around her and she cried into the crook of his neck.
"I ruined everything, I ruined everything between us," she sobbed into his shoulders, feeling the tears staining his shirt. The last time she talked to her brother they fought about her going to D.C. Now here they were, acting like everything was okay. She didn't mind, the last thing she needed was for Caden to be mad at her.
Interrupting the moment, Kaelyn's phone started vibrating underneath the pillows she threw it under.
"Woah, when did you shatter your phone?" Caden asked, "I'm not sure I can spare much to get that fixed, Kae."
"It's cool, don't worry about it," she wiped her tears and answered the call, "Beth? What's up?"
"Turn. On. The. News. Now. Your boyfriend is wilding right now and he's the only reason we're all alive," Beth spoke urgently, something shaken in her voice. As soon as she finished her sentence Kaelyn ran into the living room and turned on the TV.
'MASKED VIGILANTE SAVES GROUP OF TEENS FROM FATAL FALL' Read the headline on the bottom of the screen. Sure enough, there was footage of Spider-Man swinging around the Washington Monument.
"Oh, I gotta go! Imma be on the news! Bye, Kae, I'll talk to you in like five minutes. I'm gonna pretend to be okay for a few so I seem cool so just prepare for a breakdown later, okay? Okay, love you."
"Love you, too, Beth," was all Kaelyn said as the newscaster's voice was heard.
From the screens she spoke, "We've got Scott on the scene now with Midtown High School student, Elizabeth T-Joo. Scott?"
"Miss T-Joo was in the elevator that the masked vigilante known as Spider-Man waves from falling all the way down to the bottom. What was it like being in that situation?" the newscaster, Scott, asked as he held the microphone up to Kaelyn's best friend.
She cleared her throat, "First of all, it's pronounced with a soft J so don't even try it, whitie, now let me tell you I almost died. I don't care what laws he broke, but give Spider-Man a medal of honor because I saw God in that elevator and I haven't seen him since my mom stopped forcing me to go to church when I was like ten and that is that. Thank you."
The microphone went back to poor Scott who clearly had nothing to say to that, "Well, all right Miss Tju. Back to you, Linda."
Kaelyn laughed to herself; that was the first time she had smiled all day. Of course, it was Beth that made her laugh. It always was. Beth always used to joke that Kaelyn was her platonic soulmate and the girls were just destined to be the closest of friends. If soulmates, let alone platonic ones, were a thing, Kaelyn would believe it. As soon as the camera cut back to the office, the phone rang again.
